Word Origin & History

scrape c.1300, probably from O.N. skrapa "to scrape, erase," from P.Gmc. *skrapojan (cf. O.E. scrapian "to scrape," Du. schrapen, Ger. schrappen). The noun is attested from c.1440. Meaning "embarrassing or awkward predicament" is recorded from 1709, as OED suggests, "probably from the notion of being 'scraped' in going through a narrow passage." To scrape the bottom of the barrel in figurative sense is from 1942.